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comprising, in addition to the director, a staff of eight of the 
rank of curator (including the librarian) and assistant curator, a 
secretary, head gardener, three gardeners, a photographer, and 
the usual assistants for such a staff, in addition to an engineer, 
fireman, night watchman, and day laborers. For the realization 
of the plan it was anticipated that the budget for maintenance for 
the fifth year would be $36,960. 
It has been possible for the Garden to realize the program laid 
down with only minor changes. The municipal appropriation 
for maintenance for the fifth year (1915) was $37,124.50—less 
than two hundred dollars in excess of the amount anticipated. 
The city appropriation for maintenance has been supplemented 
by generous donations of private funds, in addition to those pro- 
vided for the building up of our collections, and the prosecution 
of research, and this has made it possible for us to accomplish 
somewhat more than was initially planned. 
From an existence wholly on paper on January 1, 1910, and a 
staff of one in temporary quarters on July 1, 1910, the Garden 
has grown to a scientific staff of twelve, occupying a portion of 
its own building and plant houses, with a monthly pay roll of 29 
persons, and a weekly pay roll averaging nearly 14 persons dur- 
ing the open season, with nearly 50 acres of land, an endowment 
over one half as large again as the original amount, a rapidly 
erowing library of nearly 4,000 volumes and nearly 6,000 pam- 
phlets, a steadily increasing herbarium of over 110,000 speci- 
mens, plantations comprising nearly 3,500 species, and other 
scientific collections, and real estate having an assessed valuation 
of over $2,700,000. 
The Garden as a Public Institution 
Obligation to the Public—The purpose of a botanic garden is 
the increase and diffusion of a knowledge and love of plants, and 
a garden supported in large part by public taxation is under 
special obligation to render to the general public—to all the people 
—as large a measure of direct returns as possible, consistent with 
the entire purpose and best interests of the institution. 
Ways of Serving the Public—This obligation may, to a large 
